Tales of the planet Htrae

“If Maria Callas remains the prototype of the stormy operatic diva, then Renée Fleming is the anti-Callas. It’s difficult, for example, to imagine ‘La Divina’ delivering the Top 10 List for David Letterman—complete with references to Miley Cyrus’s fondness for twerking—as Fleming did this past September.” [Michigan Avenue]

I think Renee Fleming is doing a terrific job in trying her best to broaden the appeal of opera and cultivating the next generation of singers and opera goers. At the same time I think she is somewhat inhibited by her down-to-earth personality. A more bubbly personality like Sills or a larger-than-life personality like Pavarotti probably would have a broader appeal to the general public.

mskapay

I don’t think a down to earth personality necessarily inhibits you; you can have that and still have that sparkle. I would say Trebs is pretty down to earth and yet has a lot of vivaciousness to her, for example. I think it’s more Renee’s bland sense of humour and the way she seems to be a fairly introverted off stage that inhibits her, more. If you’ve seen Renee in concert you know her on-stage jokes are fairly bland and G-rated. But it doesn’t matter, that’s her, and her devotion to making people interested in classical music is admirable.

However, I wish that every interview with a soprano didn’t feature some tiresome Callas comparison, be it positive or negative. It’s the kiss of death really; when you are a young singer garnering interest you are called perhaps the next Callas, when you have a successful career you are criticized endlessly because you aren’t being the next Callas, when you are in the end stages of your career it is repeatedly pointed out that you aren’t any Maria Callas, when you retire and suddenly everybody becomes fond of you again, then you are remembered as someone who was much like Callas, and when you die you have a permanent Callas-approved stamp placed upon your forehead as they wind you in your shroud, I suppose. It’s such bad writing and it’s gotten so ooollllllddd and I want classical music writers to sttttooooppp it.

Hey Louie

Bis!

CwbyLA

You are absolutely right about Netrebko mskapay. She is down-to-earth and she has that spunk in her personality. Renee is much more measured. She is very articulate and intelligent so I still think she is a great ambassador for opera but I don’t think she is the one who will bring opera to the masses. In any case, I applaud her endeavors.

antikitschychick

^^^^THIS. ITA with you in this CwbyLA.

OpinionatedNeophyte

I shall be sure not to say a single unkind word in this thread. Censure from parterree’s manners police is too much to bear.

armerjacquino

Aww, are the nasty boys not letting you be unkind?

CwbyLA

Thank you ON for your understanding. You are a doll.

Sempre liberal

I misread this as “you are such a troll”, which is certainly untrue for ON.

I want Letterman to invite Renee and Adam Sandler to his show. She can do another top 10 list and Adam can do his Opera Guy character.

MontyNostry

It’s also worth bearing in mind that Callas’ perhaps quite earnest personality wouldn’t ingratiate her with today’s media -- and today’s audiences too. She would probably be perceived as haughty and elitist — when she was probably just deadly serious about her work and had constructed her diva personality as some kind of armour. (I’m not saying she was easy or a saint, of course.) Renee is pretty earnest too, but in a more down-home and approachable way.

oedipe

Unkind words are welcome on Renee threads. And on Gheorghiu threads too.

armerjacquino

Uh oh. You mentioned Gheorghiu. That means we have the inaudibility canard quacking towards us at any moment…

MontyNostry

oedipe, such things are no longer allowed on here. Is Parterre going to become like Facebook, where someone puts up some kind of unexceptional photo for everyone’s perusal and it gets 300 likes and lots of comments about how beautiful and wonderful he/she/it/they is/are? I believe it’s known as love-bombing. Then the object of all that admiration says how humbled he/she feels. Positive messages only, everyone!

armerjacquino

Heh, naughty monty, with the freedom of speech fallacy… Anyone can say what they want, as they have always been able to. Then other people get to say what they think of that comment. Then sometimes people get to say what they think of what the other person… well, you get the idea ;-)

MontyNostry

And I now **LOVE** Nadja Michael. She works so hard.

armerjacquino

She’s a great case in point. Do I think she makes a hideous noise? Yes. Do I think she’s a scenery-chewing actor? Yes.

But she’s got every right to appear on stage while people continue to hire her, and I wouldn’t say it’s fair to call her, for example, a ‘fraud’, or to start from a position which assumes she thinks she’s as bad as many people here do and doesn’t care.

Porgy Amor

Well, now I am going to say something nice about Nadja Michael. I disliked Peter Konwitschny’s production of Don Carlos, but she acted the “Eboli’s Dream” pantomime very well, and showed a flair for comedy. Vargas’s stiffness opposite her put this in sharper relief, even though he was by miles the best singer and voice in the cast (I refer to the CD and DVD releases from 2004).

PetertheModest

What is her opinion of her own vocal talents ? Is it possible that really bad singers do not know how bad they are ?

MontyNostry

Well, Porgy, she **would** need a sense of humour.

OpinionatedNeophyte

Ha Monty! Exactly….

OpinionatedNeophyte

Well oedipe I will give AJ this: He is a humorless bore in defense of just about *every* singer, not just Dancin Danielle.

armerjacquino

‘Bore’ I’ll accept, but ‘humorless’ hurts. I got several good gags in at your expense only today, although maybe that doesn’t count as it’s too easy.

Krunoslav

“And on Gheorghiu threads too.”

WHO??? … never heard of her… or HEARD HER, either…
(OK, hate me!) I heard Licia Albanese 54 times from standing room.. and WE ALWAYS HEARD HER… and she was smart, she only let herself sing two shows in the ‘HOUSE’ with Baum… but you people hate Marcello and ONLY I KNOW ANYTHING (kidding…)

Well she never sang in Armen’s garage with “some Kansan guy” named Sam… we used to RUN HOME after shows to sing the Puritani duet.. and Marisa ( bet you don’t know her REAL name!!) always put in an A flat IN ALTISSIMO as we finished. GELB IS AFRAID OF PEOPLE THAT…. EXCITING!!!!!

armerjacquino

Do you know all her names?????

Rory Williams

RFLMAO

Gualtier M

Okay, this sassy little beeyotch went to the closed “Rusalka” final dress rehearsal today and you didn’t. It is going to be a lovely revival once the you get it in front of a live audience with some adrenaline pumping and performance energy pulsing. Both Renée and Dolora take a little while to warm up but when they do, they have a lot going on. Renée initially seemed to be holding back, the tone sometimes wispy but by the clixax of the “Song to the Moon” she was pouring out radiant high phrases. The role of Rusalka hits a lot of the sweet spots in Renée’s voice, she still looks lovely (though she needs some foundation support garments under those loose shifts in Act I and III). The character is rather passive and the floating moonlit glow in her timbre is still there and fits the ethereal melancholy character perfectly. Here or there I noticed some thinning of tone in the middle and bottom but she finished Act III in powerful form. Not as good as it was in the last revival but she owns the role.

Dolora has a powerful top and booming alto bottom but the middle can be watery and arid now. Since Jezibaba has a very up and down tessitura, it also hits her money notes often. Piotr Beczala looks and sounds very romantic with a sweet lyric tenor in the Gedda mode as the Prince. Definitely a positive element but there are a few heroic climaxes which need a young Ben Heppner or Aleksandrs Antonenko to pull off. Given that we have suffered through late Chris Merritt, Oleg Kulko and worse in the part, he definitely is at the top of the list. John Relyea returning after vocal rest, isn’t as fresh and smooth as in the past. The top can tire but is middle is resonant and when he sings cantante lines, his sound is still attractive. A good element, if not overwhelming. Sergei Koptchak had a grainier instrument but was more commanding and authentic. Emily Magee who will make her house debut as the Foreign Princess this Thursday was properly haughty and made some imposing dark sounds in the middle. The voice is rather generic and not terribly distinctive and I couldn’t get much of an impression about her top notes. They were there but no cut. She seemed big-voiced, well-routined and useful but not individual. Nice work in bit roles by Julie Boulianne as the Kitchen Boy, Vladimir Chmelo as the Gamekeeper. Good trio of nymphs led by Renee Tatum, Maya Lahyani and Disella Larusdottir.

Yannick Nézet-Séguin isn’t as idiomatic as Charles Mackerras but has plenty of dash and attack in a sometimes overly pastoral, mood-painting score that lacks dramatic propulsion for long stretches. He kept a lot of energy and momentum. Orchestra sounded good.

The picture book Schenk/Schneider-Siemssen production and costumes are showing their age with wear around the edges. They are still handsome from a distance and may photograph well. Cameras were in the house setting up the shots for the February 8th HD transmission and lighting was being adjusted.

This should be a good revival though for Ms. Fleming and Zajick it ideally should have been done 10 or 15 years ago. Better late than never though.

operadunce

Thanks for the report. I’ll be there on 2/15 and looking forward to it.

Krunoslav

“Not as good as it was in the last revival but she owns the role.”

Not a *patch* on Commonwealth Singer Eileen Hannan. Where is Roocroft?? Where is Rutter ???

Regina delle fate

Did Eileen Hannan ever sing Rusalka at the Met or anywhere else in the USA for that matter. Roocroft has never sung it as far as I know and most likely has no plans to at this stage of her career. Rutter would make a very decent Foreign Princess in one of the UK regional companies or ENO. Have you ever seen her? She doesn’t look exactly water-nymph-like. And are you suggesting that anyone on here would think any of these singers preferable to Fleming in the role? Or is this just another Harold Rosenthal tribute post?

Krunoslav

Trying to contain my excitement that Dallas Opera’s next season will encompass Diana Monatgue as Marcellina (was Sheila Rex busy?) and the inimitable Herodias of Susan Bickley.

armerjacquino

You’ve always said that it’s only second-rate imports you object to. What’s your problem with Montague and Bickley, both excellent singers and actors?

(PS: we all know the answer)

Krunoslav

At this late stage of her distinguished career, what remains of Miss Montague’s voice is surely best appreciated at home-- but Marcellina , like Basilio, has become a “Brit import” role.

Bickley’s a good “national level artist”; she was imported for one (1) Herodias to San Fran in 1992. But 22 years on? No one better that doesn’t need a vs and those trans-Atlantic tickets? Last year Portland Opera flew in Plowright for the role; maybe your fave Dame Jo will be next.

Cocky Kurwenal

Don’t you think, Kruno, that in the case of Plowright and possibly even Dame Jo, they fit in with a tradition of casting a once major but now decrepit diva in the role of Herodias, just as Vienna did with Dame Gwyneth in 2012 (and countless other examples which you could furnish better than I)?

Now I know Plowright isn’t as major a diva as Gwyneth, or say Rysanek who I understand also did a few Herodiases once well past her best (didn’t she?), but Plowright did nevertheless have a very big career singing leading spinto roles all over the place with the best possible colleagues and conductors for well over a decade. So is it not at least a bit more understandable to import Plowright for Herodias in that spirit, than it is to import say David Soar for Masetto? To my mind it is a different thing, anyway.

I wasn’t really around, but my impression re Dame Jo is that her career was less stellar than Plowright’s, but even so, it isn’t everybody who gets to sing Ballo for Karajan at Salzburg, so again I can see why a casting director might feel they had scored somebody exciting and famous for the role (just as the ROH probably did when they got Silja for the Hexe).

These comments of mine ignore the fact that the results might be irredeemably terrible, in which case I agree they probably shouldn’t be cast. But I don’t think casting Plowright as Herodias fits into quite the same box as just another unnecessary British import, given who she is and the casting traditions for the particular role in question.

grimoaldo

Hannan is TOO EXCITING!!!! for the Met!!!!! GElb won’t have her, she woujld set the palce on FIRE like she used to dom oh how we SCREAMED!!! Too thrilling for Gelb, he dosen’t like singers who know houw to use CHESTQ!!!!!!

Porgy Amor

Thanks for the report, Gualtier M. I’ve looked forward to this one since it was announced. I like Magee’s voice a lot, though. I thought her sound as Tosca, for example, in the video with Kaufmann and Hampson, was quite wonderful, big, ripe and glamorous, and it was fearless singing.

This little bitch also got into the dress rehearsal through a run-in with a VIP. It was VERY closed — seats around the Grand Tier and Dress Rehearsal, but orchestra almost empty. Strangely Peter Gelb was absent from his usual spot in the mid-orchestra. Hmm.

Don’t want to say too much about the singing because it’s clear some singers were occasionally marking. Renee was marking at times but her voice sounded great. No mannerisms, and the role fits her like a glove, I agree. Beczala also sounds great. His voice has really gained a lot in heft the past few years. Zajick has a hole in her voice but the top and bottom still impressive. And huge. Relyea I’ll avoid commenting on because it did seem like he was marking most of the time.

Agree with GM. The Schenk production still looks pretty but Rusalka and the maidens’ costumes need a major sprucing up before the HD. They now look kind of faded, careworn, and shapeless. Renee in particular needs some better fitted costumes that give her more shape. She has a great figure for her age but those loose, filmy gowns aren’t flattering. Piotr Beczala seemed to get brand new costumes because he’s so different in size from past tenors in the role and he looked great. Very princely.

Also a few things could be improved for HD — when Rusalka sings “Song to the Moon” as of now she’s kind of obstructed behind the branches of the tree. The moment when Rusalka “walks” on the lake could also be improved because Renee is walking on what looks to be a very narrow plank in what’s otherwise a pit. She’s walking pretty gingerly, and it ruins the effect of a nymph sort of gliding across the lake.

Think this will be a successful revival.

Feldmarschallin

‘Emily Magee who will make her house debut as the Foreign Princess this Thursday was properly haughty and made some imposing dark sounds in the middle. The voice is rather generic and not terribly distinctive and I couldn’t get much of an impression about her top notes. They were there but no cut. She seemed big-voiced, well-routined and useful but not individual’.

Has anyone seen Magee and Racette together at the same time?

Cocky Kurwenal

Wasn’t this dress rehearsal at 9am or something? So it’s not surprising Fleming and Zajick took a while to warm up. Glad to hear it was good, anyway.

phoenix

Thanks Gualtier & Ivy -- Rusalka is a personal favorite for me but this is the production I am least looking forward to from the Met this season. I haven’t liked Fleming in the role since she did a (concert) performance in London somewhere around 1999. Her voice gets wispier with every revival and, believe me around here as Ivy says she ‘owns the role’ -- due to diminishing resources she has become a slumlord ruling over it. Gualtier, it was ‘ideally … done 10 or 15 years ago’ -> the matter should have rested there. But the Met is the Met: 1st time Fleming & Zajick did it was in 1997; 2nd time they did it was in 2004 with Eva Urbanová as the Foreign Princess; 3rd time Fleming (without Zaj) did it was in 2009 with Blythe as Jezibaba, Antonenko as the Prince & Goerke as the Foreign Princess -- IMO: in her 3rd effort Fleming’s mannerisms truly got the best of her -- crooning as she tried to slide up to pitch, this iconicized water nymph was only the mere suggestion of a Rusalka -- reminded me of one of Marlene Dietich’s fabled ‘private’ performances in her later years. In spite of a Rusalka without a Rusalka, the other singers in her 3rd Met revival made the performance valid.
-- At the Met, the curse of Rusalka’s father still falls on her after two decades -- she has been maligned by Fleming’s unidiomatic delivery. The 11 November 1993 Met Opera premiere with Benacková & the lyric (NOT dramatic) tenor Rosenshein was one of the greatest nights I ever had at that theater. Gualtier’s description of Magee with a ‘rather generic and not terribly distinctive and I couldn’t get much of an of an impression about her top notes. … well-routined … but not individual.’ is the perfect description of Fleming.

grimoaldo

“I haven’t liked Fleming in the role since she did a (concert) performance in London somewhere around 1999”

I saw that. I enjoyed it and have often re-enjoyed in my memory hearing her sing what I think of as “O silver moon” live, very lovely.

Regina delle fate

Yes, Grim -- it was a lovely concert, and her recording is very good, as long as you can forget Benackova and one or two earlier Czech ladies on Supraphon.

armerjacquino

And Mattila, who is very special in that aria.

MontyNostry

grim, I have to confess that hearing that Rusalka broadcast on the radio was the beginning of the end for me and Ms Fleming! I had really enjoyed her Arabella from the Met some time previously (I still think it’s her best role) and had thought about going to hear her at the ROH concert performance, but the remaining tickets were very expensive -- around £100. When I heard the broadcast, she messed about so much with the tempo in the Song to the Moon, that I just wished she’d just sing it and maybe respect the conductor (Mackerras) a little.
I’ve posted this before, but I think this is a lovely, very touching interpretation of the aria (which I am a bit tired of these days, to tell the truth).

Regina delle fate

Now you’re talking Monty! Isn’t she one of the earlier Supraphon Rusalkas? Jaroslav Krombholc, perhaps, conducting? When I saw Dalibor in Prague, he conducted that. Different composer, I know.

MontyNostry

I’d never heard of her before I discovered that video on YouTube. I like the way she doesn’t overlay the aria with any expressive contrivances.

marshiemarkII

Fenice I was there also for that Benackova Rusalka and it was GLORIOUS!!!!! she was glorious in almost anything she did (except when she was doing MY roles :lol:) but the Jenufa with Rysanek at Carnegie and that Rusalka were exceptional performances indeed! don’t expect much about the current one though……

Regina delle fate

Marshie -- did Benackova do a revival with Heppner as the prince. I’m pretty sure I saw her, rather than Fleming, in the Met production. I’ve since seen Renée in the RO concert, but I missed her in the Carsen production in Paris. Guryakova did the revival -- edgier, more Slavonic. There’s a sinister, dangerous side to Rusalka which I think Renée irons out in her quest for vocal beauty.

Regina delle fate

I have that Carnegie Jenufa on disc, Marshie! What I would have given to be there……

Jungfer Marianne Leitmetzerin

I guess Vienna has fallen off the map: Staatsoper will give the premiere of a new production of “Rusalka” on Sunday with Krassimira Stoyanova, Michael Schade, Janina Baechle, Monika Bohinec, and Günther Groissböck with Jirí Belohlávek conducting. Unfortunately the production is by the dreaded Sven-Eric Bechtolf, so it will probably have all the magic of a parking garage.

Also in Wien, Neil Shicoff (remember him?) will sing his first Canio -- ever! -- on Saturday night, followed next month by his first -- ever! -- Calaf, at age 65. I wish him the best. At least he doesn’t think he’s a baritone…

MontyNostry

Back in the 80s and 90s, Shicoff was one of the tenors you got when they couldn’t get Domingo. I saw him a number of times when he was in his prime and always felt he have a strong performance. A few months ago I heard him on the radio -- I think it was the Flower Song -- and I realised for the first time that he was in fact a much more interesting singer than Domingo, with more electricity in both the timbre and the interpretation.

Clita del Toro

Monty, Domingo is a boring singer.

MontyNostry

… but ever the professional.

phoenix

No, Marianne, Wien has not fallen off my map. I am looking forward to both Stojanova & Schade in Rusalka -- closer to the kind of voices I always liked best in those roles.

Jungfer Marianne Leitmetzerin

Not to brag, Regina, but not only was I at the Carnegie Hall “Jenufa” (and almost every Met performance), I saw Benacková and Rysanek do it in San Francisco in 1986 and, if anything, Leonie was even more spectacularly unhinged (she could just lose herself in the production, as opposed to having to face a lit auditorium). And of course I have an in-house tape, which will get posted at Mixcloud one of these days.

Regina delle fate

Wonderful Jungfer ML!

marshiemarkII

Regi, yes the night of the Jenufa was a night to never forget, Leonie at her most spellbinding!!!!! she had sung a relatively lackluster Sieglinde the year before (with you who! as Brunnhilde), at least compared to the truly magnificent one of 1976 that I had seen the first time I ever heard her, and I thought she might be finished, and then came back for that Kostelnicka and left no doubts that she BACK!!!!!! in a big gigantic way :lol: but Benackova was also equally glorious in her own way and more than held her own. The ovation went on for almost half of the second intermission, really, it was something to behold.

Yes Benackova did sing Rusalka with Heppner in 1993, who had just started his glorious career, I had seen him in Freischuetz in 1991 and could not believe the voice in the rehearsal, simply sensational, the actual performance not so good, but the rehearsal was enough to know this was something great! but I had seen Benackova in 1987 apparently (my friend just reminded me) with Eve Queler at Avery Fisher, with the fearsome Linda Kelm (fierrrrrce) and the hapless Timothy Jenkins. So I had seen my share of glory of Benackova in a number of things. I really loved her, but wasn’t crazy about her Leonore at the ROH on video, that was stepping too close to MY roles! :lol:

Krunoslav

Carina, that 1976 WALKUERE was *still* in February 1977!

I saw three (3) of the San Fran JENUFAs with Benackova, Leonie and Wieslaw Ochman ( also superb) and they were better than the Carngie show by far, exciting as that was, since in San Fran Mackerras was conducting.

marshiemarkII

Yes Cara, when will ever drill into my head that it was 1977!!!!!!
Wow Mackerras would have certainly been a huge improvement over Queler indeed

BTW Errata on my post above:
(with you KNOW who….) uggh
and
that she WAS BACK…. ugggggggh
it must sound so illiterate :lol: but I think you gurls can fill in the missing verbs, really don’t know why I’ve developed such a penchant for dropping them ugggggh

I saw that ’99 Fleming Rusalka in London and absolutely loved it. I also saw the 3rd Met revival with Blythe, and thought Fleming was excellent in that too.

I’ve listened to Benackova on record and although I do like her, she doesn’t compare to Fleming for me.

manou

Completely agree about the 1999 Fleming at the ROH.. I thought she was wonderful -- and also loved her concert Thaïs here.

Cocky Kurwenal

Yes, I loved the Thais too. Sensational diamond necklace she had on, and her performance was just fabulous. She is the artist who moves me to tears most easily, and those 2 occasions, along with a Barbican recital with piano, stand out as among the most intense performances I’ve ever seen anybody give. That’s why I just don’t get the charge of insincerity that often gets leveled at her around these parts.

phoenix

I never questioned her sincerity, just her singing.
-- Now, let’s hear more about the diamond necklace!

My sister was in the orchestra that ‘accompanied’ Whitney Houston when she sang at the Giants-Bills Superbowl (Norwood wide right). Actually, although Whitney performed live, she sang to a taped accompaniment, and the orchestra wasn’t mic’ed.

OpinionatedNeophyte

Your sister is supremely lucky.

pobrediablo

I think nowadays it’s fully prerecorded.

antikitschychick

It depends. Christina Aguilera didn’t pre-record it a few years ago when she sang it and Im sure she wishes she would have, considering all the flack she got for messing up the lyrics, as well as for her excessive use of melismas. But yeah plenty of artists prerecord it.

antikitschychick

that is pretty awesome news, though I do wish this would have happened earlier in her career. But better late than never I suppose!! I will probably tune in just to watch that and the halftime show lol.

skoc211

And I come upon this article just as Act II of Macbeth begins, with Callas as Lady Macbeth recorded live at La Scala in 1952. Talk about a stormy operatic diva! I’ve always found her Lady Macbeth absolutely ferocious.

sterlingkay

Here is Renee at the Dress Rehearsal yesterday….sounds pretty good to me…

The ‘song-to-the-moon’ never sent me -- certainly nowheres near the moon. I suppose it is a nice concert piece.
-- What I am getting at is, more precisely, the greater music in the opera -- the final duet with the Prince in Act 3 -- I never heard her sing it that well in this century.